Door mechanism for dump-cars.



A. CAMPBELL. QOOR MEGHANISM FOR DUMP CARS. APPLICATION FILED JULY 31. 1911.

Lmgz?, .Patented Jan.28,1913.

2 SHEETSSHEET l.

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A. CAMPBELL.

DOOR MBGHANISM FOR DUMP CARS,

APPLICATION TLED JULY 3l, 1911.

Patented J an. 28, 1913.

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A T T ORNE YS puin EQUIIMENT COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION F ILLINOIS.

- Doon ivincnamsra non DUMP-cans.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patenten aan. ee, tais.

Continuation of application Serial No. 574,069, dated July 27, 1910. This application led July 31, 1911.

Serial No. 841,612.

To all whom' it may concern.'

Be it known that I, ARGYLE CAMPBELL, a citizen of the United States, residing in Chicago, in the county of Cookand State of illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Door Mechanism forDump- Cars, ofwhicli the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in door operating mechanism for dump o1" drop bottom cars and 1s a. continuation ofl Serial No..

my co-pending application,

574,069, filed July E27, 1910.

The object of this invention is to provide a simple and effective mechanism whereby the doors may be opened or closed with engaging pieces on the swinging shaft and.

the free end of the car door so arranged that. when the door is closed, these pieces engage and the shaft is automatically swung under the door and the weight on the door is thus held and sustained by means of the shaft through the links pivoted to the car body.

My invent-ion consists in the novel construction of parts and devices and inthe novel combinations 'of parts and devices herein shown and described, and more particularly specified in the claims.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a plan view of a quarter section of the drop bottom car. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a car showing my operating mechanism for the doors applied thereto. Fig. 3 is a parti-al cross section, taken on the lineS-S of Fig. 2, showing the door on tliefleft hand side of the car in a closed position, and the door on the right hand side .in its open or lowermost position.v Fig. 4 is a view showing the' position assumed by the operatingmehanism whenl the door is approximately half closed. Fig. 5 is a detail view, showing the o erating mechanism, with the chain omitte in the position assuined when the door is in its nearlyhlosed position. i

In the drawings, represents the car body mounted on an underfraine compris ing center sills 11 and diaphragrns 12. The sides 13 of the car body are provided with the side stakes 1d, as is usual in' this type of car. The bottoms 15 of the cars are pivoted at their inner ends, by means of hinges 16, to hinge brackets 17 riveted to the body of the car and the center sills. The outer ends of each of the doors are provided with projecting heads 18 riveted thereto, each head having an outstanding lug 19 which is provided on .its under face with a ear or rack face 20. Pivoted to the sides o t-he car body at points above the gea-r or rack portions 20 of the brackets 18 are links/21. These links are pivoted in brackets 22 ri idly fixed ,to the car body, and are provi ed at their free ends with shaft bearings Q3. Mounted in these shaftl bearings is an operating shaft 2d which may be extended so as to operate either one or more of the drop bottom doors of a car. In this connect-ionit wilt of course be apparent that the operating mechanism used in connection with each door, that is, the drum. the exible connection and the members 18 on the doors will have to be duplicated for each door, but that the saine shaft may be used throughout. Each of these swinging links 21 is supported adjacent to each projecting bracket 19 of the car doors and on the shaft, to one side df the link journals. is Irigidly fixed to the shaft. a. winding drinn 25, preferably provided with a spiral groove 26, on which is adapted to be wound the dexible connection or'chain 27. This chain is attached at one end to the winding drum and asses over the same on its inner side and is connected by an end bolt 28 to the bracket 19 on the car door. Each of these bolts 28 is preferably provided with a nut 28 threaded thereonvso that the same may be adjusted in the bolt lug 29 on the bracket 19. This provision is made so that the chain may be taken up or slacked in order that. the engaging portions on the shaft and the projecting bracket or head 19 of the car4 door will properly eifigag` `.dit one end of each winding drum is provided a gear por# vtion 30 which may be'either an entire gear or a segmental portion thereof, that shown in the drawing being avsegmental piece. The shaft 24 is o-perated by 'any ordinary ratchet mechanism, and as shown in the drawings, this consists of an operating han- Y dle 31 mounted on the shaft 24 and between the bifurcations of the 'inner end of the handle is attached to the shaft a ratchet wheel 32, and the handle 31 is also provided with a pawl 33. Also mounted on the shaft isa ratchet wheel 34, engaged by a pawl 35, which serves to retain the shaft in any of its intermediate positions.

As clearly shown in Fig. 4, each flexible connection orchain 27 is tangential to its corresponding winding drum and also passes over the extreme outer end of the corresponding extension 19 on the doors, and it' 'a position under the corresponding coperat ing projection 19 on the car'bottom vdoor directly under the pivot point of the links 2l. It will thus be seen that by this construction, the door is automatically locked in position, since the weight of the door andV of any load which may be thereon serves to prevent the winding.l drum having the gear 40 30 thereon from unrolling. lo let down the door, the shaft is rotated in the reversedirection, and in the beginning of this operation thev shaft is rolled outwardly fora short distance7 due to the meshing of the gears 30 and 20, until the shaft has assumeda position just beyond the outer portion of the eX- tension 19 on the door, when a continued rotation of the operating shaft 24 will unwind the flexible connectionA 27 and allow sont e door to be lowered. It will ofcourse be o vious that aA singlewinding drum and a..

single projection on the car door and connecting mechanism might also be used in-l stead oftwo sets "of mechanisms for each door without changing 'or varying the operation or scope of my invention. It will also be noted that by pivoting the links at their upper ends to thecar body at points above the level of the doors, when the latter are in closed position, and ina vertical plane which passes outside of the free edges of y' t substantially as specified.

the hinged doors, that no additional means.

such as locks or latches, are required to hold l hinged doors having support-ing bars pio- 65 the door during the winding operation since jGCDg beyOnd the; front edge helGOf and the shaft clear of the door or extensions on Ito the body of the ,car directly above the lthe shaft-automatically clears the doors due to the fact that it swings freely in the manner of a pendulum and will always assume a position tangential to the portions of the flexible connections between the shaft and the doors.

Varioushanges and modifications may be made in the. details of construct-ion without departing from the spirit of the invention, and all such changes and modifications are contemplated as fall within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claimzv j 1. In' a dump car, the combination with hinged doors having supporting bars pro- 30 ject-ing beyond the free edges thereof and provided with toothed heads, of a swinging operating shaft suspended from Jivot points above and proyided'with win ing drums and .with gears adapted to engage said toothed Yheads of the supporting bars on the doors, flexible connect-ions between said operating shaft and said doors, said gears on said operating shaft land said toothed heads being brought to engaging position by said .flexible connections, substantially as specilied.

2. Ina dump car, the combination with the floor, uprightsides and transverse diaphiagmsof the car, of doors hinged at their inner longitudinal edges and provided with supporting bais projecting beyond their outeredges, said supporting bars having toothed heads, a swinging operating shaft furnished with winding drums and with gears adapted to engage the toothed heads of said supporting bars, flexible connections between said operating shafts and said doors, said gears on said 'operating shaft and said toothed heads being brought to engaging position by said flexible connections, suspension links for supporting said swinging operating shaft, substantially as specified.

3. In a dump car, the combination with the floor, upright-sides and transverse diaphragins of the car, of doors hinged at their inner longitudinal edges and provided withsupporting bars projecting beyond their outei edges, said supporting bars havingtoothed heads, a swinging operating shaft furnished with winding drums and with gears adapted to engage the toothed heads of said supporting bars, ileigible connections between said operating shaft and said doors, said gears on said operating shaft and said toothed heads being brought to engaging position by said flexible connections, suspension links for supporting said swinging, operating shaft from a llXed point attached operating shaft when the doors are closed,

4. ln a dump car, the combination with furnished with toothed heads, of a swinging operating shaft furnished with gears adapted to engage the toothed heads of said supporting bars to cause the swinging operating shaft to travel around and under said supporting bars as the doors are raised by the operating shaft, flexible connections between said operating shaft and said doors, said gears on said operating shaft and said toothed heads being-brought to engaging lposition by said flexible connections, substantially as specified.

5. ln a dump car, the combination with hinged doors havingsupporting bars projecting beyond the front edge thereof and furnished with toothed heads, of a swinging operating shaft furnished with gears adapted to engage the toothed heads of said supporting bars to cause the swinging operating shaft to travel around and under said supporting bars as the doors are raised by the operating shaft, and chains connecting-the operating shaft and doors, substantially as specified.

6. In a dump car, the combination with hinged doors having supporting bars projecting beyond the front edge thereof and furnished with toothed heads, of a swinging operating shaft furnished with gears adapted to engage the toothed heads of said supporting bars to cause the swinging operating shaft to travel around and under said supporting bars as the doors are raised by the operating shaft, and chains connecting the operating shaft and doors, said operating shaft having winding drums furnished with spiral grooves, substantially as specified.

7. In a drop bottom car, the'combination of a suspended swinging rotating shaft supported from above, a toothed gear on said swinging shaft which engages with a corresponding toothed piece attached to the car door, said toothed pieces having flexible connections from one to the other so as to cause them to engage when the car door is nearly in a closed position, substantially as specie, fied.

8. ln a drop bottom car, the combination of a suspended swinging rotating shaft, means for moving said shaft from one posiktion to another, attachments on said door engaging with similar attachlnents on said shaft, said ,door attachment resting on said shaft attachment when in a closed position, substantially as specied.

'9. The combination in a car, of a plurality of car doors, a swinging operating shaft 'connected to the car body by a plurality of swinging supports, winding drums y and gear pieces on said shaft, flexible connections therefrom o gear\pieces on thev doors, said operating shaft gear pieces and door gear pieces engaging when brought together by the 4flexible connections, said door gear pieces resting upon and supported by said operating shaft gear pieces when the doors are closed, substantially as specified.

l0. The combination of a car having drop bottoms or doors, having engaging portions thereon links pivoted to the car body, shaft bearings mounted in the'free ends of ,the links, a swinging operating shaft supported in said bearings, said shaft having winding drums and engaging portions thereon, flexible connections therefrom to the door engaging portions and means for rotating said shaft toA open or close the doors, substantially as specified.

1l. In a drop bottom ear, the combination with a depending swinging shaft having a gear thereon, of a gear piece on the car door adapted to engage the shaft gear, a flexible connection between the car door and shaft for operatingthe door, and shaft rotating means, the shaft being adapted to swing under the car door when the latter is closed to automatically lock same, substantially as specified.

12. 'In a car having a bottom door pivoted thereto at its inner end, the combination with an operating shaft lrotatably supported in a plurality of links pivoted to the car body above the level of the car door, means for rotating the shaft and a flexible connection between the shaft and the car doors adapted to be wound on the shaft, said shaft having a gear adapted to engage a corresponding gear on the car door, and to roll thereunder to a point inf'a vertical line below the link pivots to support and retain the car door closed, substantially as specified.'

13. ln a dump car, of the class described, the combination of a car body having a car door and a door operating mechanism suspended from above and arranged to' support the car door by supporting links pivotally attached to the car, an operating shaft resting in said links and flexible connections from said operating shaft to said car door, said flexible connections being the means to. elevate the door and at the same time preventing the said operating shaft from swinging to a restful position until said doors are in a plane above said operating shaft when said shaft may swing to its restful and locked position beneath the car door, substantially as specified.

14C. ln a dump car,l of the class described, the combination of a car body having a car door and a door operating mechanism composed of a swinging operating shaft, pieces thereon for flexible connections to wind around, said flexible connections being attached to the car door or to a rigid connection attached 'to the car-door, means for actuating said swinging shaft, said swinging shaft arranged to bem position bene'vtla the car door when the door sis closed and in a position adjacent to the 'frnt edge of the car ser ` lied.

door and out of the line of travel of said to a closed position, substantially as speci- 15. In a dump car, of the class described, the combination of a car body having a car door and a door operating mechanism, links pivotally attached to the car body and, supporting a swinging .operating shaftjournaled in said links, flexible connectionsfrom said operating shaft to said door, vsaid flexible connections being the means of elevating the door, also a preventative from the shaft taking a restful position until l the doors have been raised to a p'osition in a rplane above said'swinging shaft and the Weight of said door and load thereon is carried by said pivot links suspended from thecar body, substantially as specified. f

1G. A dump car comprising, in combination: a car provided with dump doors; and operating mechanism for said doors ineluding a shaft, swinging'links in which the shaft is rotatably mounted, and flexible connections from the shaft to the doors, said links being pivoted at points in a vertical plane which passes outsideiof the free edges of the doors when the latter are in closed position, substantially as specified.

' 1T. A dump Vcar comprising, in combinaf tion: a car provided with dump doors; and operating mechanism for said doors including a shaft, swinging linksin which the shaft is rotatably mounted, said links being pivoted at points above the level of the doors When the latter are in closed position, and iexible connections between the shaft and the door, substantially as specified.

18. A dump car of the class described having dump doors, each door being provided With .a member extended beyond the free edge of the door, and operating mechanism for opening and closing said doors including a Winding shaft, pivotally mounted members in which the shafts are journaled, and flexible connections between the shaft and the extended members on the doors, the shaft, flexible connections and shaft supporting members being so arranged that the shaft will automatically assume-a position to clear the extended door members While the flexible connections are being Wound on the vshaft to close the doors and4 will then roll under said extended members and sustain the doens, substantially as specified.

AnGYLE CAMPBLL Yitnesses PEARL ABRAMS, H. M. MUNDAY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

" Washington, D. C. 

